Shingoji-chan
by VentXekart
Summary: Based off of Kishida Shiki's fan-comic of the same name. A certain new friend appears at Japari Park...
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

Japari Park, a massive zoo built on the Japari Archipelego, a series of islands that to a human outsider would resemble Japan. It was once inhabited by humans and animals alike but the former have all but abandoned the islands while the latter...they changed.

It all started with the discovery of phenomena that turned animals into fully sapient and sentient humanoid forms that were 'born' with the features of the animal they once were. It was all because of a substance coming out of the volcanoes that saturated the surface of the islands that was later dubbed 'Sandstar'. This miraculous substance became a subject of research along with the newly-named 'friends' that were formerly animals on the islands. They were taken out of captivity by the zookeepers and released onto the islands while work was done to re-purpose much of the infrastructure of the park to accommodate not only humans themselves but the friends as well.

At first the park became a smashing success in terms of science and tourism, eventually becoming a home to more permanent residents that developed their own culture. However, this wasn't to last...

One of the other phenomena on the island was a substance called 'Cellium' that came from the underwater volcanoes around the Japari Archipelego and it was found that when exposed to certain inanimate objects it created the mysterious creatures known as Celliens (Also known as Ceruleans). These mindless creatures attack humans and animals alike with the intent to absorb them and their Sandstar. Such an act could kill a human being but for a friend it merely reverted them back to their animal form, causing them to lose their memories and intelligence from when they were a friend. However, this was often reversed by the Sandstar that would occasionally saturate the landscapes of the islands. Originally, the Ceruleans were led by a Cerulean Queen that coordinated their efforts to overwhelm the populice. Terrified, a majority of the humans on the island fled from the threat while the friends were left to fend for themselves. Hope came one day though, when one of the original guides on the island and a unnamed individual helped lead the effort to deal with the Cerulean threat, ending it by defeating the queen.

This would lead to short pause that allowed both humans and friends to rebuild and eventually re-open Japari Park with hopes for a better and brighter future from that point forward. Unfortunately, the Ceruleans returned and the battles that followed would lead to the rest of the humans on the island to flee or disappear entirely as the monsters were pushed back.

Presently, in the absence of humanity, the friends have flourished and enjoyed their simple lives without the need for advanced technology or weapons. Occasionally, there would be smaller outbreaks of Ceruleans compared to the ones that ravaged the entirety of the park in past but they would be dealt with by the hunters; friends who chose to hunt down and destroy any Ceruleans in their path. Meanwhile new friends would emerge, as Sandstar could turn fossilized remains of dead animals into new friends while creatures considered to be subjects of urban myths, folklore, or even legend would slowly migrate to the archipelago and after exposure to sandstar would also become new friends as well.

Today, would herald the birth of one of these new friends as well as the adventures that would follow.

* * *

**Hello Everyone.**

**I've wanted to write a _Kemono Friends_-related fanfic for a while now but I haven't had that many ideas for one. This however was one of the few that I've been able to keep locked up in my head until I finally decided to start writing. Anyway, this fanfic is a novelization (if I can even call it that) of Kishida Shiki's Fan-Comic of the same name that I discovered over a year ago and while it ended in December of 2018, it's still one of my favorite fan-comics out there. Originally, it was posted on Pixiv but the pages eventually made their way over to Danbooru, where they were put into a collection and then translated by some of the users. **

**If you want to check out the original comic, Google up 'Shingoji-chan Danbooru' and you'll find the collection with all of the pages including the translations.**

**I hope you enjoyed reading this short prologue, if not I can guarantee that the chapters that follow will be significantly longer.**

**Cheers,**

**-VentXekart.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

It was another fine day in the Jungle Area of Japari Park, the sky was clear and the rivers were calm. For the friend known as Jaguar, it was just a regular old day for her as she pushed her improvised raft through the rivers, mainly for the purpose of transporting non-amphibious and/or non-aquatic friends as well as in some cases goods to different parts of the region where they would be handed off to other friends. It was tiring and exhausting work being the sole provider of river-crossing and transporting services in the Jungle Area but if it meant giving a fellow friend or two a hand, she was more than willing to do it.

As she was moving forward though, a bit of movement underwater caught her attention and she turned her head to see a long black reptilian tail with the tip and the stripes lining it glowing a faint dark red.

_'What the heck is that...? I can't tell at all...'_ she thought to herself, trying to recall if she met any friends in the past with tails like that. Unfortunately she wouldn't get the chance to do so as it swerved away from her, out of her sight and for the moment out of her mind.

* * *

Rising from the water, a large feminine form clawed it's...or rather her way up to the riverbank, panting as she crawled onto land and stumbled into a tree. She held onto the bark of the tree, trying to stand up on unsteady legs but as she pushed her way forward she ended up uprooting it and knocking it down with a loud unceremonious thump that scared the daylights out the nearby wildlife.

She stumbled again after that, but after grasping the wood again she managed to pull herself up and steady herself to stand and begin slow, steady steps through the jungle. Eventually she would end up wandering out of the jungle into the sands of the desert region at night before reaching the safari region in the morning and the mountain by noon. She was almost seemingly unaware of or even aloof about her current existence at first.

Until she saw a blue floating creature with a single eye float past her, catching her attention as it flew past her and into the air before descending and bouncing off her head. This attack continued a second time until the new friend grew irritated, stopped in place and batted it away with her tail and into the wall of the canyon before it could try a third time. On impact, it burst into a few motes of light and several gelatinous-looking cubes that hit the ground, seemingly dead. With an irritated huff she continued forward, only to see several more of the same blue creatures emerging, more than likely crowding towards her to attack. The new friend's irritation turned into legitimate anger as she growled at them. However, they seemed to go past her rather than attacking her and they seemed to be piling together and merging into something much larger to her surprise. The end result was a large, pod-shaped, bipedal monstrosity with a single eye staring right at her. With a quick lurch forward it kicked her, sending her barreling into the ground. She was in pain from the impact but after picking herself up, she growled as the spines along her back and tail began to glow, now she was pissed!

* * *

Meanwhile, a group of three friends were following a trail of pot-hole-shaped tracks that lead towards the canyons near the safari region.

Leading the trio was the friend Brown Bear. Her outfit or rather her pelt consisted of a white short-sleeved shirt with a blue ribbon above her breasts, long brown finger-less gloves that went under the sleeves of her shirt, a brown skirt with a pair of brown bike shorts underneath and a pair of brown ankle-high boots with fur lining the cuffs of them. She had the ears namesake animal atop her neck-length hair as well as a small brown bob of a tail at the bottom of her spine. She was carrying a staff that ended with a paw shaped like the one her namesake had on her back that ended with metallic claws.

The second was Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey. Her pelt consisted of a golden leotard with a collar that protected her neck, yellow thigh-high stockings, yellow elbow-high finger gloves, yellow slips upon her feet, golden bracelets around her ankles and wrists and a yellow ringlet atop her head. She had the ears of her namesake that were partly wrapped by the ringlet in her hair which was pulled into a ponytail that went slightly past her bottom near the spot where her long tail began. Her weapon of choice was a red bo staff with small knob-shaped ornaments on each end.

The third and last member of the trio was African Wild Dog. She wore a white short-sleeved shirt much like Brown Bear only her bow tie was black and the fact there were a pair of sleeves that went down to her wrists that had the pattern of her namesake that was also shared by her tights. She had white boots with short heels and finally a pair of denim microshorts. As for her animal features, she had the ears and tail of namesake animal but instead of carrying a weapon she had extendable claws on her hands that she could use against enemy Cerueleans.

Brown Bear knelt down to inspect the tracks for herself.

"This footprint indicates a nearby Cerulean...It's pretty big." She told her two fellow hunters, before she could say more there was a flash of light in the distance followed by a beam that pierced through the sky, startling them.

"W-What was that light?!" She asked.

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey, shook her head and pointed ahead, "We must make haste!"

As they made their way there, they saw fire spewing out of the head of the cerulean before they heard an animalistic screech and saw another beam that punched through the cerulean in a massive blast, the beam trailing behind one of the smaller ones that broke off from the larger form leaving large plumes of flames and smoke in front of them.

"W-What the heck is this?" Brown Bear asked, awestruck by the carnage in front of her.

"There's fire!" African Wild Dog yelled as she took in the sight and smell of it all.

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey however, noticed a shape in the flames, this one wasn't a cerulean though...

"Look, there's a friend!" She yelled, and pointed at the new contact in front of her.

Concerned, African Wild Dog decided to try and catch her attention;

"Hey you there, ya'll right?!"

While their voices caught the attention of the new friend, the response they got was less-than-friendly as she growled, raised her tail, aimed it at them and fired another beam as she screeched at them.

"Hot!" Brown Bear yelped as she swerved out of the way of the intense heat coming towards her,

"What are you doing?!" she asked only to see it trail towards them.

"EEK!" African Wild Dog screeched as flames exploding behind her and Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey.

"Let's pull back for now!" She yelled as all three of them took cover behind some rocks, their backs pressed against it in fear and exhaustion. Brown Bear took a peek to see the new friend panting in anger while her two comrades were panting for breath. They had a lot of close calls before in their line of work, but a fellow friend spewing large beams of fire at them? That was not only new to them but it was also scary!

"What's the deal with her...?" Brown Bear asked anxiously, sweat dribbling down her face.

"I don't know but...we've never seen a friend like her before." she muttered.

"The footprints continued here." Said golden snub-nosed monkey, "Maybe she was assaulted by the cerulean and got confused?" she asked. It wasn't uncommon for newly emerged friends to be confused or unfamiliar with not only their own changes but with everything around them, including the Ceruleans.

Brown Bear took another peek out of her hiding spot, seeing the new friend growl before she began to fall on her knees.

"Ah, she's collapsin'." she said partly out of relief but also partly out of confusion.

"Huh?! What?!" Snub-Nosed Monkey and Wild Dog took a gander around the corner and surely enough laying on her belly was the new friend who nearly roasted them alive.

"Don't tell me she was upset because she was hungry..." one of them muttered.

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey pulled a plastic package containing one of the most commonly-found forms of food in Japari Park.

"Wanna try giving her a Japari Bun?" Brown Bear asked her.

"If you think she's dangerous, get out of her way." African Wild Dog told her.

The simian friend poked her head out to see the new friend on her stomach, her tail weakly blowing out small flumes of flame as she looked at them tiredly before finally coming out of hiding and walking towards her.

The sound of her walking caught the friends attention, despite the fact that snub-nosed monkey had both hands raised with one of them having a Japari Bun in its plastic package the new black friend gave a loud "RGH!" at her in distrust.

"You okay?" She asked her, "You want a Japari Bun?"

The new friend looked curiously at her, though she still had a lot of distrust in her eyes. That being said though, Snub-Nosed Monkey finally was able to get a closer look at the friend in front of her. Despite laying on the ground, she could tell that this new friend was much taller than her, Brown Bear, and Wild Dog, with an equally large and long tail that matched her stature. On her back were set of large spines that went from the bottom of her neck to the beginning of her tail. Her body was well-built though Snub-Nosed monkey was unsure of how much musculature lied underneath her pelt. Speaking of this friends' pelt, it consisted of a long black dress with long sleeves and shoulder-high gloves underneath them, as well as a pair of black thigh-high cross-laced boots. Her black hair went past her neck and onto her shoulders, though she had two sets of bangs on the sides of her head that went not only went down to her breasts but also had several glowing red stripes going through them. Atop her head was a hair-band that looked almost like a set of sharp teeth but further back were hair ornaments that resembled eyes.

Snub-Nosed monkey knelt down and smiled at the new friend who tried to warn her away by hissing at her but she stood her ground. She continued to smile as she took the Japari bun out.

"It's okay." She then took a small bite out of the Japari Bun, swallowed it and then handed it towards the new friend.

"See?" she said reassuringly.

She kept the smile on her face even as she dodged the friend's attempt at whacking her with her tail.

She heard her two comrades yell "Golden Monkey!" in concern only to see her raise her hand where she once held the Japari Bun. Slowly the other two hunters came out of hiding, seeing the new friend hunched down and took a bite of her own. Satisfied, she decided to try the rest of it out.

"So...Maybe this is her first time eating Japari Buns?" African Wild Dog asked.

"It should be." Brown Bear replied.

They then saw the new friend take the rest of the bun into her mouth in one bite.

"Oh, she packed it away nicely." African Wild Dog muttered both impressed and intrigued at this new friends' behavior.

Satisfied, the new friend laid down and set her head on the end of her tail, using it as an improvised pillow and then quickly closing her eyes.

"And she fell asleep..." African Wild Dog muttered again.

Brown Bear shrugged, "I guess just being born would wear her out...Good Grief."

"Do you think she'll run wild again once she wakes up?" African Wild Dog asked,

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey turned back to them with a smile on her face,

"If that's the case we can try communicating with her when she wakes up. I'm sure we could be good "Friends" with her."

* * *

In the air, a certain friend was singing as she flew through the sky,

"The skyyyy, is so wiiiide..." She sung.

This friend was Japanese Crested Ibis, also known as "Toki". She had a white jacket with red feather-trimmed sleeves, a red pleated skirt, red pantyhose and red red gloves that went under the longs sleeves of her shirt and black shoes. Her long white hair was swept back behind her head before her sidelocks, headwings, and bangs trailed off into red at the ends. She had a pair of small wings resembling those of her namesake emerging from the sides of her head while also having the same tail feathers protrude from underneath her skirt.

Despite her expressionless face, she was enjoying her flight through the sky as she sang all the way,

"And so big...And the moooon climbs so hiiiiigh..."

Unfortunately for her though, her once smooth flight was quickly interrupted by a bright beam of light that went past her head,

"HOT...! Huh? What?!"

Soon she began spiraling into a descent as her singing trailed off into a faint cry of "The air flow..."

* * *

The one responsible grumpily glared at the sky, blinking once as she began to yawn as she awoke from her nap. She was irritated about the fact that it was interrupted by someone or something that was flying through the air. She instinctively hated anyone or anything that flew in the air after all.

"What the heck are you doing all of a sudden?! I thought you woke up!" African Wild Dog yelled, as she tried to hold down the now steaming tail of the friend who nearly shot down poor Toki. She only barely managed to grab it when it began to fire into the air.

"It looks like it didn't hit her, thank goodness." Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey was relieved that Toki would be alright, though they would probably have to apologize to her later.

Brown Bear on the other hand...

"HEY!" She yelled as she brought her fist down on the black-haired friend's head, "You don't attack other friends!"

Unfortunately, her attempt at punishing the new friend only made her angry, especially as she rubbed the bump upon her head. She retaliated by trying to whack Brown Bear with her tail, but she blocked it before it could do any real damage.

"Now you've done it!" Brown Bear was pissed! First this new friend wakes up and suddenly attacks another friend but now she had the gull to try and knock her out with her tail for rightfully scolding her? It's on, now!

She gave a quick roar before punching the new friend in the chest, knocking the breath out of her as she stumbled backwards before it turned into an absolute brawl with limbs flying out of a pile of dust that surrounded both of them.

"FIIIIIGHT!" African Wild Dog yelled encouragingly to Brown Bear.

"Don't overdo it, now!" Golden Snub-Nosed advised.

Unfortunately the only response they got was Brown Bear quickly snapping with "SHADDUP!" as the brawl continued. It ended for a moment after Brown Bear pushed the new friend back. Having several bumps and scratches on her face, the new friend growled as her spines and tail began to glow.

That was when things started to get serious, as both Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey and African Wild Dog prepared to intervene.

"Hey, now..." Brown Bear said warning the new friend, "That's taking it too far for a mere scuffle..."

Unfortunately, the newly born friend didn't listen and instead fired another beam of flames from her tail at her.

Brown Bear clicked her tongue before raising her staff up and then clawed through the beam with the working end now in front of the newborn friend's face, the steel nails glowing brightly in front of her. Shocked by this revelation the newborn friend paused and gulped at the sight of them as they were mere inches from her face.

"So do you wanna cut this stuff out or do you want to keep going until we're both badly hurt?" It was an ultimatum, if this new friend was willing to go that far, then Brown Bear would too. It wouldn't end well for either one of them because this new friend might have their fire and their tail but Brown Bear had experience from hunting Ceruleans and also spars between herself and other hunters in Japari Park.

Thankfully though, the new friend lowered her tail and only gave a soft growl as an answer. With her point now across, Brown Bear smiled, hoisted her claw over her shoulder before coming up close to pet the new friend on her head.

"Good Girl."

The new friend snorted and batted Brown Bear's hand away with a pout. Satisfied, Brown Bear dropped her claw and raised her fists up.

"Well then, should we restart with a plain old fight?" Brown Bear asked.

Of course, the new friend agreed with a pout and a grunt towards her before jumping on her and chomping down on her thigh, thus starting the fight all over again but without the intent to kill.

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey and African Wild Dog relaxed, with the former doing so with a sigh of relief while the other merely smiled and watched the two go at it again.

This fight would end of course with Brown Bear being victorious, only at the cost of Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey scolding her for using a German Suplex on the new friend after she was knocked out.

* * *

When she came to, the tall black friend rubbed the bump on her head as she slowly regained her bearings.

"Oh, good. You're awake."

She hissed at Brown Bear, though not as viciously as she did after her prior encounter with that large black cerulean.

Brown Bear noticed this but also, scratched beneath her chin nervously as a blush appeared on her face, still recovering from the scolding that Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey gave her.

"So, yeah, uh..." Brown Bear started, this was awkward for her as she was now trying to make up for the recent brawl, "I guess things got a little heated and went a little too far..."

She then sighed before pulling something out of her pocket, "So here, you can have this!" and then shoving a Japari Bun into the new friends' arms, "I'm sorry, okay!"

Happy to receiving food again, she nodded before tearing the Japari Bun out of its wrapping and biting into it with enthusiasm while her tail stood in the air wagging slowly.

"We're back." Brown Bear turned to see Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey with African Wild Dog trailing behind her.

"Looks like they're at the cafe." Wild Dog said.

"Cafe? You mean the one on the mountaintop?" Brown Bear asked.

African Wild Dog nodded before glancing at their new accomplice, and point at her with her thumb.

"That girl can climb, right?"

Brown Bear shrugged, they still didn't know who this friend was nor did they know about her abilities except for the fact she can shoot fire from her tail.

Snub-Nosed Monkey frowned and tilted her head, thinking for a moment before turning back to her fellow hunters,

"Well, worse case we could use my staff to pull her up, but..." she trailed off.

Sighing, Brown Bear shook her head.

"Well, in any case, we just have to go there."

The three of them nodded in agreement before Brown Bear turned to the new friend a called out to her.

"Hey, when you've eaten, we're going." She pointed up to the mountains, the girl tilted her head as if she was thinking about what she said before shrugging.

"Alright, let's go then...We've got an apology to deliver."

* * *

The climb up the mountain would've been a hassle for the party of four if it weren't for the fact they ran into a familiar face along the way.

"Oh myyy~! if it isn't the hunters!" A friendly voice drawled, "What a raaare sight to see you all here!"

Alpaca Suri was the friend that ran the cafe on the mountaintop, the very one where Toki frequented on a regular basis because of the tea that was served and the fact it was easy to find when she was flying. That being said though, because of it's isolated location, ceruleans and by extension the hunters that exterminate them rarely appeared in the mountains, which is why Alpaca Suri was surprised to see them.

She had a long-sleeved shirt with fluffy cuffs at the end near her wrists, with a beige-colored vest with a small breast pocket on the left side and a red ribbon tied near the poofy collar of her neck. Below that was a pair of shorts, also with puffy legs with white pantyhose underneath it, trailing down to her feet where a pair of ankle-high white boots with fur-trimmed around them. Her hair was fluffy and long, with two bangs on the side of her face tied with ornaments while a fluffy bob of hair formed a small ponytail at the back of her head.

"Nice to see you again, Alpaca-San!" Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey greeted her, "We were just on our way to the cafe."

"Oh, reeeally~?" Alpaca hummed, "How lovely!", she then gestured with her towards the mountain, "I'll show you the easier routes to get there."

"Thanks, we appreciate it."

"It's this waaay~!" Alpaca drawled.

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey trailed behind her, "Huh, this reminds me of our training at Master's place."

"Stop, I don't want to remember that stuff." Brown Bear said with a grunt as she palmed at the rocks and tried to climb up.

However before she go any further she heard a sharp 'KLONK!' down below, seeing their new accomplice fuming below after hitting her head on an outcropping of rocks.

"Are you alright?!" One of the three above asked her.

"That was some noise just now..." One of them said.

The friend below merely grumbled for a moment before looked down at her feet and then her arms which she usually held by her sides before nodding to herself and attempting to catch up using both sets of limbs she had at her disposal this time.

Alpaca Suri slid to the top of a rock before, looking down at her.

"By the waaay, I haven't met a friend like you before! My naaame is Alpaca Suri.", She introduced herself.

Brown Bear paused before snapping her fingers.

"Oh! That's right! We never really asked or gave any names, did we?"

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey who hung back beside their new accomplice chuckled, "We must have forgotten to that after all of the ruckus from before...I'm Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey." She said politely.

African Wild Dog turned down to face their companion, "I'm African Wild Dog."

Brown Bear waved before joining in, "I'm Brown Bear."

As they reached the top of the mountain, the newborn friend responded with "Grawr."

That...wasn't what the type of response they were expecting...

"Right..." Brown Bear trailed off.

"Maaaybe you're a friend that isn't good at speaking?" Alpaca asked rhetorically.

African Wild Dog shrugged,

"Well, you're all black so how 'bout we call you Kuro-Chan?"

The newly-named Kuro-Chan seemed to pause for a moment before shrugging at them.

"Sounds easy enough to me." Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey chimed in.

"Rrgah." Kuro-chan said in agreement.

Brown Bear shrugged, "Well, it'll do until we can find out more about you at the library, at least."

Kuro-Chan shrugged with another "Rrgah." before she finally made atop with the others. Though frustrating as it was, she wasn't exhausted like her newly-found companions who were panting while Alpaca Suri praised them for making it so far.

"Welcome Back, Alpaca." A certain voice chimed out, and Alpaca turned to see Toki waiting their patiently for her as she brushed her hair out of her eyes from the wind.

"Ohooo~?" Alpaca replied, "Looks like you beat us up heeere." Alpaca gestured to the green bag over her shoulder, "I just went out to gather some stock for a biiit..."

Toki nodded, "It's okay, but I would have gladly helped if you'd ask me."

"Oh nooo, I couldn't do that~!" Alpaca said politely as she waved her hand aside dismissively.

Kuro, having been last up had only a minute to stand and enjoy the view and breeze before she felt two hands grab her from behind her head and shove her into a low bow alongside the other three hunters.

"Sorry!" All three hunters said, as a stack of four Japari Buns were placed in front of them, much to Toki's confusion as she tilted her head at them.

Still bowed down (and also restraining Kuro), Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey spoke, "That light beam thing that attacked you this morning was her special trick, But!"

Brown Bear took over, "She only just became a friend, see and she doesn't understand what's what just yet."

African Wild Dog was next, "We were right there beside her and we couldn't stop it, so that's our fault."

Then the three of them all together said a resounding; "We're sorry!" as Kuro tried to break free grumbling all the while.

"I see." Toki said with a smile and a nod, "It's okay, really."

The four of them peaked up to see her as she picked up one of the Japari Buns,

"I'm certain you've done enough lecturing to her by now, haven't you?"

Kuro kept quiet but pouted in agreement.

"If so, then I don't have anything to add. Everyone gets a little rowdy at first, after all...Now, since everyone's taken the time to come all the way up here, why not join me for a cup of Alpaca's lovely tea?"

All three of the hunters sighed in relief as they stood back up.

"Thank you, we'd be glad to!" Brown Bear said as her companions (sans Kuro) made similar sounds of agreement. African Wild Dog and Brown Bear went ahead but Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey stayed behind with Kuro for a moment, as she rubbed the taller friend's head.

"Sorry, that must have hurt, huh?" Kuro nodded affirmatively as Snub-Nosed Monkey rubbed her forehead.

"It's hard to ask for forgiveness sometimes, you see? Try to remember that."

Kuro-chan paused, processing the simian friends words as she followed her inside. She had a lot to think about now...

* * *

By the time night fell, everyone inside the cafe were enjoying the tea served by Alpaca Suri. Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey enjoyed it while Brown Bear did not, much to the former's amusement. African Wild Dog on the other hand was busy trying to restrain Kuro-Chan from spouting fire out of her tail again, apparently she wasn't fond of Toki's singing at all. Needless to say, they got a bit of a laugh out of that, though Toki would get quite a shock when she heard Kuro sing or rather what apparently was her equivalent of singing as it was an interesting melancholic noise that sounded like a leather glove being rubbed against a violin...not that they knew what that sounded like anyway nor did they know what an actual violin was. Alas, as the night went on they all turned in for the night. Tomorrow, the hunters and their new friend Kuro would be making the journey to the library to find out more about her and her species.

* * *

**Welcome to the end of this chapter!**

**So as I mentioned in the prologue, I was going to be mashing chapters of the original fan-comic together and this was the result. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it and don't worry, more chapters will be on the way!**

**Cheers,**

**-VentXekart**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

When the sun began to rise, the three hunters and Kuro-chan took an alternate trail down the mountain, leading them back to the edge of the Savannah Area but before they could go any further however, a Cerulean appeared. Unlike the previous one Kuro-chan encountered this one was smaller and instead of being a biped it had four spindly legs that gave the monstrosity a slow striding gait. Kuro felt a twinge inside her body, an instinctual feeling telling her to be ready to fight.

Brown Bear sighed, pulling her weapon of choice out before taking a glance at Kuro,

"Don't get in the way, Kuro-Chan. Just go hide over there."

She pointed to one of the trees behind her as Kuro-Chan looked at her confusedly.

African Wild Dog rolled her shoulders before chiming in with a grin,

"You're strong, Kuro-chan, but you're no hunter. You're just a friend."

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey nodded in agreement,

"Protecting friends is a job for the hunters."

Despite feeling a twinge of interest at fighting one of those monsters again, she hesitantly complied. That being said though, that didn't stop her from peeking outside of her designated hiding spot to watch the three hunters fight as she pushed down the combative feeling flowing through her veins.

The three of them ran forward with Brown Bear at the front and both African Wild Dog and Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey following her from the left and right.

As soon as the Cerulean saw them, it lowered it's body to the ground while bracing itself with its legs and then suddenly a long tendril darted out towards Brown Bear who strafed to the side as the new limb went harmlessly past her front impacting the ground behind the three of them.

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey darted forward and with a cry of "HYAOO!" she jabbed her staff into the joint of the creature's front left-leg. The cerulean retaliated by bringing the limb down on her but she managed to deflect it's strike with her staff into the path of African Wild Dog who sliced through it with her claws.

Two new tendrils emerged from the front forming a new set of legs that were brought down in an attempt to impale one or two of the three hunters all the while rising to it's full height. African Wild Dog and Brown Bear managed to jump back while Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey cartwheeled around multiple attempted strikes from the abomination's limbs until she was outside of it's reach.

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey and Brown Bear glanced at each other and instantly they knew what to do next. The simian friend began sprinting forward, picking up speed and momentum while Brown Bear began to lower herself to the ground. The Cerulean attempted to strike her with one of it's front legs but African Wild Dog deflected away from her leader with a single strike from her claws which gave Brown Bear the chance to bring her hands down in front of her, just in time for Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey to step on it before she was tossed into the air by her leader who merely watched the simian friend fly above the Cerulean...

"HA!"

And strike the stone atop it's body with her staff, breaking it and by extension destroying the Cerulean as it burst into small cubical pieces. As she fell, both Brown Bear and African Wild Dog got below her, interlocked their hands together and caught her in their embrace. After holstering their weapons they huddled together, smiled and then bumped fists with each other for a job well done.

Needless to say, Kuro was extremely impressed with them. The fact that they fought together in near perfect synchronization to take down a foe while also protecting one another fascinated her, especially as someone who has only fought one on one with her opponents regardless of how they overpowered her in terms of strength or size.

"Man, that wore me out. Let's go get some water." African Wild Dog said as she stretched her limbs behind her back and crackling her sore knuckles..

"Lessee...I think the closest watering hole is over that way..." Brown Bear said when she pointed at the location, when she felt a soreness in her left arm, she grabbed her elbow and stretched it outwards.

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey, seeing that their fourth companion had come out of hiding gestured her hand towards her,

"Come On, Kuro-Chan!"

Nodding in affirmation and a grunt, Kuro-Chan jogged up to her as they began walking towards the aforementioned source of water.

As they were heading there though, Kuro saw something out of the corner of her eye in the sky...Something was flying up there! Without any warning to the hunters she pointed her tail upwards and fired a beam at the object above. Said object turned out to be another friend; Lappet-Faced Vulture. She had a lanky build with short pink hair in a bobcut that faded to blue and then yellow and black near her forehead, brown eyes, and small wings atop her head and tail feathers above her butt that matched her namesake. Her pelt consisted of a black tank top with a brown leather vest, brown short shorts, a pair of white chaps, white biker boots, black fingerless leather gloves, and brown leather bands around her upper arms. When the beam came inches from the front of her head, she calmly weaved her flight path around it before the beam was suddenly pivotted to another direction, courtesy of Brown Bear jumping in the air and kicking Kuro-chan on the head with both of her legs as she yelled;

"Don't just attack anything you see flying!"

As Brown Bear was teaching Kuro-Chan a lesson, Vulture could only turn around and wonder; "What was that...?" before turning back to her original destination with this information filed away for her superior.

* * *

"Haha, oh my. What a calamity!" It was the cultured voice of a friend who was originally one of the Youkai of Japanese Legend; Yatagarasu. She had black hair with two bangs in the front tied neatly tied together with small ornaments and a small ponytail tied in the back, small black wings of a crow on her head and matching black tail-feathers near her bottom. She had a long-sleeved jacket with grey highlights on the shoulders, the collar, the wrist sleeves, and near the bottom, a grey skirt, black pantyhose and grey boots.

Currently she was currently sitting atop a cushion writing with a wooden caligraphy brush as she finished listening to Lappet-Faced Vulture's report.

"But it heralded the birth of a very interesting friend as well."

Lappet-Faced Vulture shrugged.

"They said they were heading to the library to find out more about her."

"Is that so?" The three-legged crow asked as she finished another brushstroke on the letter in front of her, "Vulture, I'm terribly sorry to impose on you, but could you please fly back and meet up with them?" She asked.

Vulture placed a hand on her hip, silently thinking about the three hunters in question and their new companion. The Hunters of Japari Park were already being stretched thin as it is, not to mention the fact that Brown Bear sustained an injury to her leg a while back.

"You sure we're not putting too much work on those guys?"

"Oh, I do understand." Yatagerasu said with a nod as she put the finishing touches on her letter, "But...we simply need more skilled hunters in our ranks. If going to the library is all they're doing, then don't interfere, but aside from that...I'm sure you know what to do."

Lappet-Faced Vulture sighed;

"It can't be helped then...alright I'll take care of things."

She took a few steps forward, Yatagerasu handing her the finished letter, and after securing it, Lappet-Faced Vulture ran back to the edge of the temple Yatagerasu called her home, jumped in the air and took flight once more.

* * *

Meanwhile,

The group of four made it to the watering hole they were looking for.

"Pfwaah!" Brown Bear pulled back with a smile on her face as she gulped down the last of her drink, "A big cold drink after a hard day going wild is just the best!"

She took a glance to her companions, African Wild Dog was bent down and lapping water from the edge of the pond while Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey was cupping her hands together, taking some water into her hand and drinking it.

Kuro on the other hand...

"That Kuro, she didn't miss a beat before diving into the water."

Indeed, upon reaching the watering hole, the first thing she did was step into the shallows to check the water. Satisfied, she crouched forward and then submerged herself inside with her tail trailing behind her.

As Brown Bear shook her head of excess water on her face after her drink, she heard one of her two companions ask if she was an aquatic friend. Before she could answer though, they were interrupted by a massive up-welling of water as two figures emerged, one being Kuro while the other was Hippopotamus who was one of the friends who made the watering hole her home. She had long black hair that went down the middle of her back with the ends fading into a bright red and of course she had the ears of a Hippopotamus on her head. Her pelt was a black catsuit with red stripes on it.

They heard the friend roar as she grappled with Kuro in the shallows of the water.

"You've got a lot of guts picking a fight with me!"

"SKRONK!"

Despite Hippopotamus' enthusiasm at the challenge, Brown Bear decided to intervene by giving Kuro a very sharp chop on the top of her head.

"Knock it off."

The reptillian friend fell to the ground, knocked out as African Wild Dog began counting down, when she finally reached one she raised her leader's wrist up to signify her victory. Meanwhile, Hippopotamus was giggling after Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey told her about Kuro and how they met her.

"That's quite a tale!" She said as she finished getting the last of her laughter out of her system.

"That's why we need to find out what kind of animal Friend she is as soon as possible."

Hippopotamus hummed thoughtfully as she took another glance at Kuro, more specifically her tail and pointed to it.

"She has quite a long tail. Maybe she's related to Gator's kind?" She asked.

"But then there's that fire thing she does..." Snub-Nosed Monkey brought up.

"Oh?" Hippopotamus said as she tapped a finger to her chin in thought, "Perhaps she's one of Salamander's lot then? She was able to shoot fire, too. She passed by yesterday, in fact." She crossed her arms, "She said she was headed to the amusement park for some sort of gathering..."

She trailed off as something caught her attention, she looked to see the now conscious Kuro standing on her feet as the spines along her back began to glow, and then suddenly a beam of light burst out towards the sky as African Wild Dog and Brown Bear shielded themselves from the bright light.

Kuro was aiming towards the familiar form of Lappet-Faced Vulture but she simple pulled her head back, avoiding injury as Kuro fell to the ground from exhaustion and lowered her tail, snuffing the fire out.

_'So this is her "fire"...to think it could reach that far!'_ Poor hippopotamus was honestly shocked to see Kuro's power at work and while she was familiar with Salamander's use of fire, this seemed...different somehow.

African Wild Dog on the other hand ran towards Lappet-Faced Vulture as she began to touch down,

"Are you alright, vulture?!" She asked in concern as the avian friend finally landed with a smile and a wink.

"It's avoidable when you know it's coming and I already did dodge it earlier today."

Kuro-Chan huffed and looked at the avian friend warily even as Brown Bear petted her head.

"So, all good, all good."

"So," Vulture started, "Work starts early, same as usual." She then pulled out a letter and handed it to Brown Bear, "From the boss."

Brown Bear cleared her throat and started to read it aloud;

"It says...'Sorry to do this to you today after all that has happened yesterday, but if you're going to the library, take care of a matter in the desert while en route.'...Understood." Brown Bear nodded as did Snub-Nosed Monkey and Wild Dog.

"That soon, huh?" Vulture asked with a frown on her face, "You really should make it a point to get some rest, y'know? I mean you're leg-."

"Vulture." Brown Bear said as she handed the letter to Snub-Nosed Monkey.

"I'm not going to overdo it like I used to." She said with a reassuring smile, "I learned my limits already..."

Vulture seemed skeptical of this at first until Snub-Nosed Monkey chimed in,

"She'll be fine."

African Wild Dog interjected as well,

"We're with her too."

Kuro just hissed at her though, though Vulture just ignored her.

Vulture smiled, it was good to know that Brown Bear's team was there to keep her in the right direction if something went wrong.

"Is that so...Alright then, I'm off." She jumped in the air, her headwings flapping as she began her ascent, "But I'm serious, you guys gotta remember to get a good rest in sometimes, okay? I mean it!"

Brown Bear nodded as Vulture turned around,

"Sure. And be sure to pass my complaints on to the boss about using Friends so roughly!"

Hearing that, Vulture raised her right hand and waved her hand back as both a farewell and an acknowledgement of Brown Bear's message.

Kuro-Chan on the other hand wasn't exactly happy about the new friend she just met flying off into the sky, in fact she was growling in frustration at the sight of her in the sky but when she was out of sight and therefore out of mind, Kuro bent forward and let out a deep sigh instead.

"You held it back, yeah? Attagirl!" African Wild Dog said this was followed by her petting the reptillian friend on the head with Brown Bear and Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey joining in. Kuro wasn't amused, in fact she found the action condescending but instead of fighting back she just shook her head back and fourth as the others laughed.

On the sidelines, Hippopotamus could see that this new arrival was more than meets the eye not only in terms of her powers but also in how she acts around her three compatriots.

"Alright then, let's get a move on!" Brown Bear said with a wave forward as her party followed her en route the library."

Hippopotamus waved to them and shouted that she would be praying for their success which lead to the four of them thanking her and sending her their farewells as they continued their journey.

* * *

In Japari Park, weather changes were not unheard of regardless of the regions of the islands. Near the edge of the Jungle Area as the sun began to set, a storm followed behind it bringing rain, thunder, and lightning behind it. While many friends had dens, nests, burrows, or whatever shelter they could call home some of the more nomadic or migratory friends had to find whatever form of shelter was available to them, mainly one of the old abandoned structures that were leftovers of human habitation.

In this case, several friends took shelter in an old abandoned church. During this time several of the friends would occupy themselves and wait out the storm. Brown Bear, Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey, African Wild Dog, and Kuro were among those waiting it out. Brown Bear was resting her head on Snub-Nosed Monkey's lap as she softly stroked her hair while African Wild Dog was trying to teach Kuro how to talk.

"African. Wild. Dog." She enunciated her name.

"SKREEONK!" Was the only sound that came from the Reptilian friend's mouth.

Progress on teaching her how to talk was...slow but on the bright side, Kuro did understand what they were saying so they had to be patient.

"She is getting better at it." Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey remarked as she continued to pet Brown Bear's head as she snored contentedly.

"Oh? That's a face I usually don't see around here." Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey turned to see a familiar face; Jaguar.

"It's been a while!" Monkey exclaimed with a nod.

"Did a Cerulean appear or something?" Jaguar asked, last time she checked there wasn't any word of any Ceruleans around before the rain started.

Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey chuckled and shook her head, waving her free hand dismissively, "No we're heading to the library today."

"I see, excuse me."

As she turned around she caught the sight of a long crocodillian tail that seemed very familia- Wait, she recognized that tail!

"Ahh!" She said a she pointed at Kuro who seemed curious as to what the feline friend was up to, "Aren't you the one I saw swimming in the river that one time?! Because I remember seeing your tail!"

Alarmed about the thought of Kuro-Chan getting into trouble before they met, African Wild Dog jumped up to meet Jaguar.

"W-Wait, Did Kuro-Chan do anything wrong there?!"

Jaguar just laughed, "Nah, she was just swimming along the river."

She then got on her knees to meet her face-to-face.

"I'm jaguar, nice to meet you, Kuro-Chan."

"Garr." Kuro said with a nod. Jaguar then noticed something about Kuro, mainly her size of all things.

"Whoa, you're huge." She said. Indeed, the hunters had acknowledged that she was probably one of the larger friends in Japari Park.

"I think you're bigger than Indian Elephant..." Jaguar said thoughtfully.

"You called~?"

"EEP! She's here!"

Indian Elephant was one of the larger friends of the jungle region that Jaguar knew of. She had tan skin, orange eyes, gray hair, and the equally gray ears and tail of her namesake animal. Her pelt was a grey swimsuit-like attire with a grey sarong around her hips, blue thigh-high leggings that went down to her golden anklets and white sandals, blue fingerless gloves that went above her elbow, golden bracelets around both of her wrists and finally a large fluffy scarf that was wrapped around her neck with a long part of it seeming to move on it's on.

Indian Elephant, upon seeing Kuro blinked and then came closer.

"Ohh~." She said with intrigue in her voice, "This is the first time I've seen a friend that is bigger than me."

Kuro was equally curious about this newcomer as she was one of the few friends that was around her height range yet the way she carried herself was pleasant to her.

"While we're here." Elephant interlocked her fingers with Kuro's much to her confusion, "Would you like to dance with me?"

"Come on, now." She said pulling a bemused Kuro towards her, "We'll dance away through this rainy day."

While still gripping Kuro's hand she pointed free hand out towards the other friends with a rhythmic chant of "One, Two..." as she took a step back, twirled in place until her back was facing Kuro and then they jumped together excitedly as if they were prancing through a field. At this point other friends started taking note of the display, with some of them even applauding as Indian Elephant released Kuro and twirled her around like a top.

Kuro soon realized that she and Elephant weren't the online ones dancing because as Indian Elephant pulled back and clapped her hands above her head, African Wild Dog who was prancing in place jumped forward and with her arms crossed and pushing her up into the air she twirled around into a backspin and then a munchiemill before ending it with a hand-stand. The commotion eventually awoke Brown Bear who at first started to watch what was happening until Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey stood up and went to join in.

Meanwhile, another feline friend by the name of Ocelot saw Malayan Tapir bring in a slab of wood which gave her an idea. Together she and another friend, Small-Clawed Otter if she recalled her name correctly grabbed a pair of wooden bars and began to rhythmically drum on the wooden slab to produce some form of improvised percussion.

Kuro was honestly...having fun! Dancing was a new experience for her and she watched and observed other friends beginning to join in as well including Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey who leapt into the air like a human ballerina and stood on one foot and stretched herself into an Assemblé that Kuro managed to mimic with some effort.

Two avian friends, one being Peafowl while the other being Red Junglefowl on the other hand began singing, providing some sort of lyricless chorus to the percussion in the background.

As Kuro bowed alongside Snub-Nosed Monkey she noticed Jaguar and a Friend by the name of Okapi dancing behind her with the former performing a variant of Flamenco while Okapi did a short pirouette next to her.

Both of them were suddenly accompanied by Small-Clawed Otter who after letting Malayan Tapir take her place jumped over the improvised drum started joining in a happy jig.

Kuro was suddenly intercepted by Indian Elephant again, as she pulled the reptilian friend's hand down and then swung her around in a dizzying fashion. Eventually it got to the point that everyone was dancing with the exception of Ocelot who continued to act as a percussionist as other friends began bringing other items for her to use including pots, pans and even a watering can of all things all the while carrying on the rhythmic beat for the rest of the friends to dance to.

Brown Bear joined in, beating her chest and arms with her tongue out as she attempted a Maori Haka with African Wild Dog and Kuro joining in as well with several friends cheering them on.

The dancing would continue on and on until finally, the storm cleared leaving the shining sun in the sky in it's place.

"Whew, I worked some muscles I don't usually get to work." African Wild Dog muttered, she then hissed and grunted in pain as she stretched and rolled around her shoulder.

"Kuro-Chan!"

Wild Dog looked to see Indian Elephant holding hands with the aforementioned reptilian friend, "Yesterday was so much fun! Will you come dance with me again sometime?"

Kuro gave a "Gah." and nodded in affirmation, it was an enjoyable experience for her after all and she wouldn't mind doing it again if they saw each other again.

"Well, Well!" Brown Bear said, "Looks like someone made a new friend!"

Indeed, Elephant and Kuro seemed pretty happy together. Alas, they had to continue their journey to the library but first things first they had to make a stop in the desert region.

* * *

_Traveling through the desert wasn't exactly a pleasant experience for Kuro, even with the large leaf above her head providing her shade she was way too hot! Sweat was dribbling down her face as a warm vapor came out of her mouth with each exhausted pant she made to stay cool. Eventually she couldn't take it anymore and she fell forward, unable to go any further in the heat. The fall caused Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey to yelp in surprise while African Wild Dog shouted her name and tried to wake her up. _

_Brown Bear came forward towards the unconscious friend and tried to grab a part of her but she ended up burning her hand instead._

_"Ow, Hot!?"_

_"This is bad, real bad!" African Wild Dog shouted as the heat continued to bear down on them._

_Little did they know however that a Friend was watching from afar and despite her reclusive nature she reluctantly decided to assist them_ _especially since she was the one who called for them in the first place._

* * *

Kuro groaned in exhaustion as she opened her eyes, a small line of drool coming out of her mouth as she heard a voice...singing?

"Oh?" The owner of said voice caught Kuro's attention as she started to slowly sit up with her vision adjusting itself to the dark to peer at the friend who was currently with her.

"Hello, I'm Sand Cat."

She was a tiny feline friend with bright yellow eyes, dusty blonde hair with a few brown streaks across her forehead, and the striped fluffy tail and ears of her namesake. Her pelt was simple, a sleeveless blouse with a bowtie that had patterns mimicking her original animal form, white elbow-high gloves, a skirt with a pattern similar to her bowtie and was tied behind her back with a larger bow than the one around her neck, white fluffy socks with stripes on them, and white sneakers.

"Are you feeling better already?"

"Gah." Kuro grunted with a nod as she got up and sat on her knees, examining the cavern she was in, seeing a light near the entrance that presumably led to hellish desert outside.

"This is my home. Anyway, Brown Bear-san and the rest went with Tsuchinoko deeper into the ruins to exterminate the Cerulean. So Kuro-chan you're supposed to wait here." She then let out a sigh of exhaustion before crawling towards a clutch of rock in the cave.

"While we're waiting, let's eat some Japari Buns."

The mention of food got Kuro's attention, needless to say they would end up eating their Japari Buns as they waited with both being content to fill their bellies. That is until Kuro felt a twinge of something in her gut.

"What's wrong?" Sand cat asked.

It was the same feeling she got when she saw that Cerulean back in the Savannah Area though it admittedly wasn't as strong as it was back then. She continued eating even though she was a little tense, as if she was cautiously waiting for an ambush. Thankfully however, the feeling faded away when her three hunter companions came in with an unfamiliar friend alongside them.

The new friend was panting "Finished, we're finished!" as Brown Bear smoothed out the tense muscles of her neck while African Wild Dog yawned.

"There were a pretty good number of 'em eh?"

The new friend had pale skin, glowing blue eyes, a brown hoodie with a striped almost reptilian pattern on it that matched her long serpentine tail, teal-colored hair, and a pair of heeled sandals.

She let out a sigh before turning to the hunters.

"Sorry for asking but now we can search these ruins in peace."

"Well, thanks for your hard work gathering information inside the ruins as well, Tsuchinoko-san."

Brown Bear turned to see Kuro standing to meet with them,

"Kuro, you doing okay?" she asked.

"Gah." Kuro grunted affirmatively with a grunt.

Sand Cat raised her right hand up and bobbed it forward, a common gesture used by feline friends in Japari Park.

"Thank you for all your help."

"Oh it's no problem." Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey said with a smile.

"Hey Kuro, come on, say thank you to these two properly, now. After all, it was Tsuchinoko's information that got us this far."

Tsuchinoko huffed, "It's just by happenstance, just happenstance."

"Regardless, Thank You, ssu!" African Wild Dog said with a nod.

"Thaangshh." Kuro-Chan said.

"You're quite welcome." Sand Cat said with another bob of her hand.

"I just happened to have some business in the park, and happened to be passing by, that's all! Putting that aside, though, if you're going to the library, then taking this route is going to be less hot. It is a bit dark though..."

Kuro and the three hunters proceeded back into the tunnel that Tsuchinoko pointed towards and as they started making their way down, Brown Bear click her tongue in frustration.

"A bit dark my ass! I can't see a thing in here!"

"Kuro-Chan is shining!" African Wild Dog called out.

It wasn't exactly shining but there was a glow coming from Kuro's tail and parts of her hair and across part of her dress, but it wasn't bright enough to guide them towards...whichever direction lead out.

"Hmmm...I don't suppose you can shine a little more brightly?"

It was a sarcastic remark of course, but Kuro unfortunately took it seriously and quickly raised her tail upwards and with a loud "POOMF!" it ignited a small flame, startling the three hunters out of their thoughts. The flames flickered a few more times like a lighter before it finally formed one solid flame that illuminated their path.

This caught the attention of Sand Cat who looked intrigued at the light coming from Kuro's tail while Tsuchinoko skittishly hid behind her.

"It's bright, it's bright!" African Wild Dog celebrated.

"Thank you so much, Kuro-Chan." Golden Snub-Nosed Monkey said.

She would continue to light their path through the tunnels as their journey would eventually take them outside and into the Forest area of the park.

* * *

**Hello, Everyone!**

**I don't really have much else to say this time to be honest except that I hope you all enjoyed this chapter because the next one is going to incorporate the fighting scenes of the next several chapters after Kuro-Chan and the Hunters reach the Forest Area. Please fave, follow and post a review if you like because I appreciate any constructive feedback I can get.**

**Cheers,**

**-VentXekart.**


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